


Tenderness

by Jongley



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Animal Crossing References, Established Relationship, M/M, Podfic Available, Sushi eating, cream cheese does not belong on raw fish and i will not be convinced otherwise, jersey gas station attendant appreciation, responsible social distancing measures, some light new jersey slander in the author's notes but it comes from a place of love i promise, the only video games i've ever played are wii bowling and madden and i button smashed during both, this is so incredibly soft y'all, wawa appreciation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23478394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jongley/pseuds/Jongley
Summary: TK and Nolan have a date night. Everything is soft and nothing hurts.
Relationships: Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
Comments: 30
Kudos: 150





	Tenderness

**Author's Note:**

> title from the song of the same name on the album "soft spots" by adult mom
> 
> for people who haven't been to new jersey: don't  
(jk i'm from ct i have to say that, nj is lovely once u get off the turnpike, even if their pizza is only decent at best) (jk jk @ anyone from jersey reading this pls don't chop me up and turn me into taylor ham!!!)
> 
> n e ways: new jersey is one of two states in the usa where it is illegal to pump your own gas! they have paid attendants at every gas station—you just pull up, roll your window down, and they come to you. i do not recommend asking them to do your minimart shopping for you. also yes it's legal to tip the attendants, though not everyone does—i usually give 'em an extra buck or two bc i drive a plug-in hybrid (her name's jolene) and sometimes they unknowingly pop the electric plug-in cover instead of the gas one and look at me all confused, like, "am i gonna have to explain to this dumb tourist that her car doesn't run on fucking gasoline???"

TK shows up at Nolan’s door holding a Wawa bag. Nolan’s got his mouth open to bitch him out for his irresponsibility, but TK’s already talking a mile a minute, telling him to “Calm down, Patty, I needed gas anyway so I stopped on the Jersey side, I stayed in my car and asked the guy if he could take my list and go inside and grab stuff, he was fine with it, _and_ I tipped him an extra hundred, cash.”

Nolan takes a second to absorb that information and then steps aside, holding the door open mutely as TK bustles in, toeing off his shoes haphazardly. Nolan just barely rescues the Wawa bag before it falls to the ground as TK fails to juggle it and get his coat off simultaneously.

“Soft pretzels?” Nolan asks hopefully, breathing in deep.

TK shoots him a blinding grin. “You know it, buddy! Date night, right? I gotta treat my boy right.”

Nolan wants to smile at that, because, like, _soft pretzels_, but—“We can’t, like, go anywhere, though.”

“I know,” TK shrugs, leaning in for a quick kiss as he takes the bag back from Nolan, coat and shoes finally put away (for a given definition of “away”). “But I figure, even if we can’t go out, we can still do what’s important, like. Me, and you, spending time together. That’s what matters, not like, fancy steaks and white tablecloths and old wine and shit.”

“And soft pretzels,” Nolan concurs, then points out, “and it’s not like we ever did any of that fancy shit before.”

“Well, no, but—you know what I mean,” TK rolls his eyes. “Don’t try to pretend you’re not charmed, bud, I’ve got your number,” and he pushes past Nolan and heads into the kitchen.

Nolan doesn't bother to respond, just shakes his head fondly and follows his boyfriend into the kitchen, where TK's put the bag on the island and is pulling out the pretzels.

"Gimme," Nolan says, hand extended, tacks on a, "please?" when TK just gives him a look. TK hands one over, and Nolan takes a huge bite; he knew he'd been missing them, and it's only been a few days, but _damn_ are they good.

"Thanks," he mumbles through his mouthful, and if his eyelashes flutter in pleasure at the taste, who's gonna judge him for it, TK? The same TK who's currently moaning like he's getting his dick sucked while slobbering all over his own pretzel? Yeah, Nolan'll take his chances.

Once they've demolished the soft pretzels and are onto their second beers—TK had pulled two bottles out of the fridge, eyebrow cocked, asking, "Five o'clock somewhere, right bud?" and Nolan had just handed him the opener—they move to the couch with the candy that'd been buried underneath the pretzels and fire up Animal Crossing.

TK spends an hour flitting around his island, fishing and pulling up weeds and selling turnips and decorating his house and yelling at Tom Nook, and Nolan uses the peace and relative quiet to make his best approximation of the turkey hat TK's been obsessively wearing this month.

Nolan pauses to wander into the kitchen, sees it's actually nearly five o'clock by now, and decides it's close enough—and he's hungry enough—to be dinner time. He calls in their usual massive sushi order to their favorite place, makes sure to pay over the phone and ask that it be dropped off at the door, the whole nine yards. The tip he tells them to include is probably a little excessive, the way Hinako makes him repeat it twice to double-check, but she accepts it eventually with a heartfelt thanks. So he likes to support local businesses. Whatever, it’s not a big deal.

When he's done with that he heads back to his spot on the couch, sitting his ass right on top of TK's feet where they've stretched out since Nolan stood up, and then he turns his Switch back on and takes a crack at making some camo clothing, adding in a little hunter's orange for Flyers pride.

When TK finally gets bored of terrorizing his own villagers, he wanders over to Nolan's island to say what's up, flexing his toes where they're tucked under Nolan's thigh at the same time as his villager gives Nolan's a virtual greeting.

Nolan is above this letter-sending shit. "Here," he says out loud, gifting his fashion creations to TK without further explanation.

"Aw bud, thanks!" Teeks says, genuine surprise and delight in his voice. "These are so great, babe, I love them!” He puts them on his character immediately. “I'm never taking them off."

Patty rolls his eyes, but he knows his pleased blush is giving him away and doesn't try to hide it.

"Man, this hat _whips_," TK says, like that sentence makes any sense, "See, I knew you cared!"

"Maybe I just got bored, huh, ever think of that?" Nolan says, knowing TK will know he's fronting.

"Yeah, I did," TK says, simply. "But if you were bored you would've just quit and done something else. I know you're a thoughtful motherfucker, Patty, you can't hide the truth from me!!" He punctuates this by wiggling not just his toes but his entire feet, like he's trying to get Nolan to overbalance. "This camo does look a little janky, though, not gonna lie," TK muses.

"I mean, I can take it back, if it's not up to your exacting standards, Mr. _haute couture_," Nolan tells him, fully aware he's opening himself up to endless chirps by butchering the French pronunciation.

"No way!" Teeks immediately yips, "No takesy-backsies!" His feet go from wiggling, a gentle rumble beneath Nolan, to straight up dolphin kicks, like he's in a fucking pool instead of lying on his boyfriend's couch.

Nolan gives in to what TK clearly wants, and lets TK's kicks overbalance him. He tips over slowly, gently depositing himself in TK's lap.

"Hi," Teeks says, grinning down at him. Hs looks weird, from this angle, almost-but-not-quite upside-down. Nolan feels ridiculously soft about it.

"Sushi should be here soon," Nolan tells him.

"Sweet," TK fistpumps, but not vigorously enough to jostle Nolan.

"I got that weird Philly roll you're obsessed with," Nolan informs him, just to see the way the smile blooms on TK's face.

"The one with cream cheese?" TK asks. "The one you said was an abomination that I’d go to hell for eating, despite, may I remind you, how you don't believe in God?"

"Yep."

"Aw, baby, I love you, too," TK coos.

"Whatever," Nolan tells him. "I know."

TK leans down to kiss him, but it turns out the Spiderman angle really doesn't work for them. They're too competitive to admit defeat, though, so their teeth clack together three separate times before a knock announces the food's arrival and gives them an excuse to give up on the failed kiss attempt without verbally admitting defeat.

They throw a random documentary on while they eat—it’s one of the many G forcibly added to their Netflix queue, claiming that if they were gonna mooch off his account the least they could do was use it for educational purposes.

It makes good background noise while they're eating, though, too busy stuffing their faces to hold a conversation, and provides a soothing counterpoint for them to focus on when they're at risk of losing control and cracking during the wasabi-eating-competition portion of the evening.

(Technically, TK wins this bout, but only because he viciously pinched Nolan right in his soft, squishy bits after Nolan took a massive bite TK knew he wouldn't be able to top. TK still has to share in Nolan’s spicy-mouthed suffering when he claims his victory kiss, though, so it all evens out.)

They already learned the hard way not to fuck for at least three hours post-wasabi-eating-competition—or at least not to blow each other, and they ran out of couch lube last week and they’re too lazy to go get the bedroom lube and TK was too embarrassed to ask the gas attendant to buy him more, and when Nolan calls him on it he just starts spouting some bullshit about not being that kind of girl, and who does Nolan think he is, huh, expecting TK to put out on the first date—nevermind that they've been dating for months, and—point is, they flop around on the couch until they find a position that works, TK tucked up against the back of the couch with Nolan sprawled half on top of him.

"This is easier when you’re too fucked out to care if you can see the TV," Nolan bitches good naturedly, and TK says, "Yeah, but this is nice, too," his voice all soft and gross.

Nolan sighs where his face is buried against TK’s neck. "Yeah, it is," he agrees, and presses a kiss to the skin there. TK's hand drifts up Nolan's back and starts carding through his hair, and they slowly fall asleep to the sounds of Planet Earth playing in the background, warm and snug and in love.

**Author's Note:**

> they wake up like four hours later and every single joint in nolan's body snap crackle pops when he stands up. he says, completely deadpan, "owww my bones hurt a lot oww oof my boones." tk laughs so hard he wheezes and then wheeze-laughs for so long he 1) cries and 2) makes nolan start to genuinely wonder if he ought to, like, call someone.
> 
> sorry if my description of animal crossing is wrong, the last time i looked at a handheld gaming console i was in elementary school and my friend was showing me her nintendogs.
> 
> thanks for reading! i'd love to know what you thought :) you can find me on twitter @jongles3 and tumblr @ tbeauty4.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Tenderness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24490072) by [Jongley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jongley/pseuds/Jongley)


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